The Art and Science of Teaching: December 2013

The Winter Festivities - 5 Learning Opportunities for Children

The winter celebrations are a perfect time for the child to connect with the family and develop certain skills at home, where s/he feels safe, surrounded by love and in charge of the environment.

Most of the times, between visits and attending guests or preparing traditional meals, parents have little time to prepare "special" activities for children but the fact is they don't really need to. There are different ways to involve children in all the usual activities, thus facilitating growth.

Here's a list of 5 simple things we can do to involve children and make sure they get a good share of learning moments while at home:

Decorating or undoing the Christmas tree. I have seen families who do not involve the children because they might break the balls or ruin the process. Depending on the age of the child there are many things a family can do to make this tradition a wonderful family moment. Did you ever try having

a tree decorated only with crafts made by the family members? If you have a smaller child, did u show him/her the smell of the tree? let him/her touch it? Did you buy special unbreakable child-proof decoration items so that the little ones may enjoy touching and playing with them? For smaller children, try sticking or drawing some numbers on the balls. When you undo the tree, try to find 1, then 2 then 3 and place them in boxes in the correct order. For older children, you can make this a bit more challenging by adding operations such as 45-44 instead of 1, 2X1 instead of two, etc. If your child could use more work on literacy try pasting the alphabet letters, or certain rimes or riddles to stimulate reading or imagination.
Communicating with Santa. Well, older children know about writing letters to Santa, but this can also be done with toddlers. They could cut and paste the objects they desire, paint, draw, color or sculpt them. Since traditions says Santa knows if you have been naughty or nice, this could also

provide a good self evaluation opportunity for children. Self awareness is one of the most important abilities successful adults have, and sadly enough this competency is not particularly fostered in traditional educational systems where the teacher does all the evaluation. Print images with positive and negative behaviors for your children that they could cut and paste according to whether they behaved like that or not. Have them reflect upon their actions and include their work in their letter to Santa! If they meet Santa at nursery or at home, try to prepare them for the meeting. Meeting Santa is meeting an adult of importance and if they haven't been exposed to different adults they will feel shy and overwhelmed with emotions. Try to familiarize them with what is going to happen during the meeting, with details about Santa and his life :). Once they feel comfortable with that, the encounter may get as educational as possible. Santa can ask or tell about geography, history, different cultures, etc. Once children feel comfortable with him, they might be very receptive to whatever Santa has to say!
Cooking and setting / clearing the table. It is true that when you are in a hurry and a bit tired and

stressed, you might want to do all the things yourself and children in the kitchen might get into the way. You can, however think of how they can help you and how much their involvement means for them! A simple task such as setting the table can help children develop their self esteem, their spatial awareness, fine motor skills, creativity and social skills. Preparing the food can be a right moment to talk about where each food comes from and how, or about the tradition of each meal. This enhances the child's knowledge about the world and gives him/her the feeling of belonging to a certain culture, and the developing sense of self confidence.
Singing with the family. Each year I see pictures and clips of Christmas Concerts from nurseries and

schools where children have to perform in front of an audience full of strangers, where they have to learn some things that they did not contribute to but were assigned to them by their teacher. This alone makes the subject of a different post. One way of making this easier and more pleasant for Children is to actually sing at home, with the family and in front of people they feel comfortable with. If you are not religious it does not have to be carols but winter songs. These warm moments bring the family together and create wonderful memories for the little ones. They also empower them to feel comfortable to give a performance when time comes :).
New Year resolutions. Yes, I know, most of them are just blowing in the wind, but having a family

moment each year until children grow when everyone thinks of what they wish to do in the future year in different roles is teaching your child another very useful skill for his/her future adulthood: that of planning ahead! It is common knowledge that planned things are more likely to occur, so this simple gesture is of great significance for your child's future life. Have them draw pictures of how they wish their future year to be, paint or write wishes or compositions! They will exercise more skills at once and eventually understand the importance of planning! And doing this with all the members of the family enhances accountability and mutual understanding and increases the chances of everyone helping each other to succeed with their resolutions!

There are many other things to do around Christmas time: reading and story telling, guessing different Christmassy smells, or doing lots of sporty outdoor activities. Most of the times, in what concerns very busy parents just being all together, playing some board games or giving and receiving presents can be everything the little ones wish for.. I hope this post inspired you and that you all have the best holidays and the most magical family time!

Source of pictures:

How to make School Rock!

When I was in London for a workshop, one of the trainers passionately spoke about this project she heard about some time ago. It was designed and implemented by a team of unconventional educators in Belgium and it seems to have been a great success in the country.

They decided to go to schools around Belgium and have one week of school built around the theme of rocks!

They first tried it on a class where, Monday morning they brought in class and placed on the teacher's desk a large impressive collection of rocks of all types and sizes. The children gathered around them, and explored them curiously. Some of them were not really interested, but some of them began touching and moving them. They were curious of how they tasted or what sounds they make when bashed against each other. Shortly after they began to classify them in groups of different sizes and colors.

The second day, children found around the rocks various books on rocks and minerals. While some children were quite uninterested, others began to explore by themselves and identify each type of rock and understand their formation. They shared the information in class and at home.

The sudden apparition of rocks made a lot of buzz in the lives of those children. They began to be more curious and so the question "What can we do with all these rocks?" quickly appeared into their minds. They started to make patterns out of them, to build towers, to build bunkers, alleys and even portraits.

The following days, different types of weighting scales were found around the classroom. Children began to use them and see how much different rocks weighted. They compared the weights of similar sized rocks and used several scales to weight single rocks. Some children began recording the results. One child was wondering how many feathers would take to equalize the weight of the smallest rock. The teacher brought feathers so the children happily followed up on the idea.

The last days of the project, instead of scales, the children found paint and brushes. They took on to painting the rocks. Some of them painted two or three, but others spent their whole day painting one after another. Lots of creative patterns emerged, inspired by nature or their day to day lives.

And so after one week of fun and exploration, practical and theoretical learning, they ended their Rock Project. They learned about the types of rocks and their formation. About concepts such as weight, mass or gravity; they found out about different types of scales and how to use them. They read. They learned where and how to search for information. They followed up on their interests and curiosities. They worked individually or in groups, spontaneously, without adult intervention. Like real scientists they began to record their results. They expressed themselves in a creative manner with quite inexpensive materials. I also liked the fact that the adults guided them sensitively and only thought of what materials to introduce and when. They did not come with a preset agenda for the children, but rather responded to their interests. I think that made learning more powerful.

There is a large number of creative activities that can be done on this theme to cover all areas of development. I really like how the children in D Y Patil International School in Belgium used one of Belgium's most plentiful resources - chocolate :) - to recognize and create sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks! You can find the pictures from their science experiment here. Another resource you might find useful if you would like to take on such a project is this website http://www.rocksforkids.com/, which contains lots of useful information and pictures on rocks, minerals and fossils!

Thank you for reading and either you are a teacher, parent or an education enthusiast, good luck with creating the most exciting, stimulating learning environments!

Sources of pictures:

Two by Two: Two Children's Books for a Good Night's Sleep

Two by Two is an exciting children literature project. Its purpose is to bring more or less known children books in the attention of teachers, parents and children around the world, paired on specific themes such as death, communication, self esteem, anger management, friendship or unconditional love. A lot of these books were brought to my attention by a very dear friend, with whom I share the passion for child literature. Almost all of these books are in my personal library, carefully chosen to fulfill some of the criteria described here, and have been used during my teaching classes. The children I work with had wonderful reactions to them, and this has inspired me to write this Two by Two series.

Two by Two: Two Children's Books for Good Night's Sleep

1. Silly Billy, Anthony Browne

Anthony Browne is an amazing British artist! I really love both his illustrations and his stories. The stories are original, profound and insightful and deal with different facets of childhood. His illustrations are brilliant! They are often full of hidden meanings which children can discover gradually. Browne uses different characters from famous classical paintings to educate children on the history of art or to express certain feelings in an unconventional way. He also uses gorillas as characters, being inspired by real stories and the contrast between their strength and their humanity and gentleness.

Silly Billy is a book that can help children deal with anxiety and some of the fears they face when they go to bed. Browne leaves nothing to chance. If you carefully analyze the cover you will see something that looks like a doll, with a sad face, and a boy walking towards the future with a happy face. These two clues make you curious from the start to discover Billy's story and why he's called silly in the title.

From the very fist pages we find out Billy was a boy who would worry about a lot of things. Not to give children ideas of real things to worry about, the author had Billy worry about hats and shoes, clouds and rain and giant birds, fears that are not at all common among children. The use of black and white for the illustrations of Billy's fears are very compelling. Browne also makes references to the work of Magritte by using his style of drawing the hats.

Of course his parents tried to talk to him, and reassure him they are there to protect him. But for Billy this was not enough. One night, he had to sleep at his grandmother's house. He got particularly worried when he slept in other places, and and his anxiety grew, he felt a bit ridiculous and went into his grandma's room.

His grandma reassured him that he wasn't silly at all! She then came with a solution for his worries, some worry dolls for him to tell all his worry to, and put them under his pillow. They would take his worries for him, and he could sleep in peace. Billy tried the worrying dolls and for three days he slept very well.

But soon, Billy got worried again! He felt bad for the worry dolls, to carry all the weight of his worries for him, so he decided do to some crafty work and make some worry dolls for his worry dolls!

And that was the end of Billy's worries. At the end of the book we get a short explanation. These worry dolls actually come from Guatemala, where children would make them from wood, colorful pieces of cloth and thread. They have proven to be quite useful for children, and today they are even used in certain hospitals to help children deal with their fears.

Many teachers accompany this books with discussions about fears or with practical activities. The dolls are easy to make. Here is an example of a doll making activity inspired by the book. Another example of activity is this animation made by the children of Columbia Primary School for the London's Children Film Festival (2009). You can find many articles and interviews with Anthony Browne on the internet. Here is a series of 6 clips from a conference where he spoke about his inspiration and the stories behind his books and illustrations!

2. The Little Giant, Philippe Dumas

For the second book I choose one a little bit easier and with no negative emotional charge. Philippe Dumas's story is perfect for a warm, cosy, full of fantasy bedtime read.

The book has a witty start as the author presents the two main characters: a boy and a girl who broke anything and never spoke bad words. The little readers are reassured as they flip the page and discover the boy and the girl were two plastic dolls!

The owner of the dolls, a little giant girl, was happy to play and sleep with them. During the day, she was a giant, but at night, she would lessen into their size and they would tip toe out of their room and eventually out of the house. They would travel on the dog and roam the fields at night. Run through the wind, watch the stars, the animals of the night, the sounds of the nature. They would swim with the ducks and make fire for the butterflies. They would then stop at the rabbits den, where they would be awaited with tea or warm onion soup, listen to stories, then sit on trees with the crows and pass by the cows in the field on their way back. As the night grew shorter they would hurry back home. The little girl would regain her normal size. And as soon as they jumped back into bed the morning light would come trough the window, and together with it, the biggest giants would come into the room to say good morning!

For me this story is more than just a simple tale. With the help of beautiful, colored illustrations, it proposes an exercise of imagination, empathy and a lesson for both children and adults on how the world is scaled and the magic of childhood. As a montessorian, this book is perfect not only for children but for all the adults who yet need to understand the relevance of child sized environments for their children's proper development!